The Beatitudes Session One Introduction

Session One - Introduction LET US ASCEND INTO THE HILL OF THE LORD.

William Pennick was a Salvation Army missionary in India, and every morning as he sat in his office he would raise his eyes to the great towering peak of Everest in the distance and he would think on the twenty fourth Psalm, and this inspired him to write the words -

           There is a holy hill of God, its heights by faith I see,
           Now to ascend my soul aspires to leave earth's vanity,
           Then cleanse my hands and cleanse my heart, all selfish aims I flee,
           My faith reward, Thy love impart, and let me dwell with Thee.

We often sing his words to the tune of "Drink to me only with thine eyes"

It is said that when they translated the Septaguint from Hebrew into Greek at Alexandria around 300 B.C. that seventy scholars were cloistered in seventy separate rooms and each produced an identical translation. Which is hard to believe, for if we were to gather seventy Christians in one room for a discussion it would not be long before different ideas began to emerge.

No one of us knows it all, and it is dangerous to think that we do! But we CAN share our understandings - and in so doing to enrich and strengthen one another in our faith - and be the better Christians for our sharing.

I have never seen Everest, but I have stood at the foot of the 365 steps carved into the cliff face that lead from the South Stack lighthouse in Anglesey back to the mainland realising if I wanted to get home the only way was UP, for there is "no other way"!

And if we are going to ascend this holy hill of God there is "no other way" than that which Jesus has shown to us through His teaching of the Beatitudes, and in our three workshops we are going to share in this ascent!

"And seeing the multitude He went up into a mountain, and, when He was set, His disciples came to Him. And He opened His mouth and taught them saying `Blessed....'" Matthew 5:2

It is especially interesting to notice that the teaching of the Beatitudes was a private session for the disciples and the basis of a training session that was going to last the best part of three years.

Each Beatitude is introduced by the word BLESSED.

Some translations have looked for a more up-to-date word that people might understand more readily,
and have chosen the word HAPPY.

But if we accept this word ``happy' we are being short-changed. Its very root word `hap' suggests it is
connected with chance! Blessed is a word that is unique and defies all secular translation.

Because being blessed is a spiritual experience. It is the permanent work of God in a person's heart.
It includes happiness, but that is only part of the story. Blessedness is "joy unspeakable and full of
glory!" It is peace. "We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ!" It is the abiding
satisfaction of "the love of God shed abroad in our hearts!"

The person who is BLESSED is touched by the hand of God. An anointing upon the seeker and
believer.

Our first workshop will be on FAITH WITHOUT WORKS, accepting the way of Christ as the
ONLY way of Salvation.

Our second workshop will be on FAITH BY WORKS, living out the Christian life with Christ as our
guide and leader.

Our third workshop will be APPROVED BY GOD, in which we are sent out as evangelists to face
the persecution of the world which is their judgment upon us, but through which God judges us as being
worthy to inherit His great reward.

It is also interesting to note that many of the parables can be linked and interwoven with the
Beatitudes, this in itself being an interesting further study to be pursued for its own sake.

Session One Introduction

Session Two The Poor in Spirit

Session Three The Mourners

Session Four The Meek

Session Five The Merciful

Session Six Righteousness

Session Seven Pure in Heart

Session Eight Peacemakers

Session Nine The Persecuted

Session Ten Rejoice